Friday, December 21, 2007

Holiday baking

I've made six kinds of Christmas cookies so far. The biggest success at work was "Blind Dates" from the Farm Journal Country Cookbook. I'd post a photo but they are all gone!

I also made chocolate macaroons, coconut/cherry drops, Spritz cookies (with Irish creme flavoring) chocolate walnut balls, gingersnaps. I made some peanut brittle. I still need to make the 7-layer cookies, lemon bars, peanut blossoms, and maybe some rock candy. If I get really ambitious I'll make some fudge. I don't think I'll be doing iced cookies this year, I need to cut back a little bit!

One thing I have been doing over the years is recording the recipes that everyone likes and are traditional for our family Christmas in a special "blank" book I keep with my cookbooks. So far I've only put the cookie recipes in, but I really should put in the recipes for turkey and stuffing, green bean casserole, and the corn casseroles. Who knows if my grandkids will want to share my recipes with their wives some day?

I'm working on the menu for Christmas day. We're having my kids, the grandkids, and Ed's brother over. Since Ed and his brother grew up making sauerkraut pieroghies on Christmas day, it's kind of a tradition, and we might do that. Along with the pieroghies we'll have:

Prepare sauerkraut filling: rinse, drain, and saute 2 bags of sauerkraut (do not use kind in cans or glass jars)

While the sauerkraut is heating, put a stock pot on the stove with water (for boiling the pieroghies later) and turn up the heat, then prepare the dough:mix 1 1/4 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of milk, and 2 eggs into 3 cups of flour. Add flour by heaping tablespoon (about 6) until dough ball is slightly shiny and stretchy. Roll out 1/2 of dough at a time on pastry cloth (my mother-in-law uses a Tupperware plastic sheet) until it is very thin, should be about 14 x 18 inch rectangle. Cut the dough in squares approximately 3-4" with a floured knife. Put about a teaspoon of sauerkraut into the center of each square, (try not to dampen the edges with the juice as it will make the pieroghie difficult to seal), and fold up the squares diagonally into a triangle. Pinch the edges shut. If they don't seal, use a little plain water to dampen the edge.

When all the pieroghies have been made, carefully lower them into the boiling water. They will float when they are ready. Don't overload the pot with too many at a time, or they will stick together and be a mess.

Prepare the onions: Melt 1 stick of butter (1/4 pound) in a frying pan and slice in a couple of yellow onions in 1/2 inch slices. Brown the onions until they are just past translucent and starting to carmelize.

Remove the pieroghies from boiling water to serving platter. Toss with browned onions. Serve with sour cream.

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About Me

I'm a retired information technology (IT) specialist who worked in automotive manufacturing, production scheduling, materials management, and inventory control. For over 40 years, I have also been pursuing the hobbies of machine knitting and machine embroidery, along with more traditional fiber arts such as spinning, dyeing, weaving, quilting and sewing. I love working with natural fibers like wool, alpaca, angora, and mohair. But I also love the enhanced productivity I can get using modern software and hardware tools to ply my craft.

I prefer to use natural plant-based dyes and sometimes gather my dyestuff from my organic garden or the meadow behind our home.

I am available to teach hand or machine knitting.

I live with the love of my life, my husband. I never knew how to bake a pie until I met him. Now we raise apple trees and honey bees! I love my daughters, four grandchildren and also my step family, kids, grandkids and GREAT-grandkids!